Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
STEFANO
“Take my son to his room,” I snapped at the doctor. “And the rest of you, get the fuck out. Give me a few minutes.”
“I’ll stay with the boy,” Tony said.
Good man. I nodded.
“Make sure he gets a healthy dinner and plenty of milk.”
Enzo seemed physically weak after what he’d been through. And too thin. His size might have been typical for a boy his age, but I had no experience with children, so I couldn’t be sure.
I wanted my son as strong physically as he was intellectually.
Bruce glanced back at me with a remorseful expression.
“You stay. Sit and keep your mouth shut,” I said.
He took a seat as I sunk into my father’s heavy leather chair with the yellow envelope still gripped tightly in my hand. This one weighed much less than the others.
My gut already knew what waited inside that envelope.
Every cell in my body rejected the idea of opening it. I couldn’t put the truth back inside and forget about it once it came out.
I didn’t want to see her that way.
“Where’s Mama?”
My head snapped around at the sound of Enzo’s voice.
He stood in the doorway, and Tony stood behind him.
The night before, this boy had come to me like a man, so determined, forceful even. He would grow into that man sooner than either of us realized.
But for now, he was still a child who needed his mother.
“Son, you’re supposed to be in your room.”
Enzo shook his head.
“Not until we know,” he whispered.
Christ, how could I say no to him? He had a right to know.
I pointed to the chair closest to me. After he settled on the velvet cushion, I summoned the strength to open the envelope.
One photo slipped out onto my desk. Nothing else inside the envelope.
The grainy image showed Val lying on the ground. A pool of blood surrounded her. She clutched her arm while glaring at the person taking the photo.
He’d hurt her. He’d already fucking hurt her.
I would kill that motherfucker with my bare hands.
“Looks like there’s a note on the back, boss,” Tony said.
I turned the picture over.
Call off the wedding or your whore dies today
Then we come for the bastard
I looked at Enzo.
He sat upright in the armchair, his eyes locked on my face.
“Do we know where this came from or the pick-up location?”
“The courier picked it up from a locker at the train station,” Bruce said. “We started pulling the station’s security footage to find a visual.”
“Get back on it. Follow that lead. Get me some answers.”
Bruce quickly left my office, then Tony took his seat.
“What’s next, boss? How can I help?” Tony asked.
“Start calling in some favors. We need extra manpower to search every inch of the city. Call Lordi’s second and relay a message from me. Tell him the Commission’s assistance would mean my allegiance.”
Tony’s eyes widened.
“But Stef…”
“Just fucking do it,” I ordered. “Keeping Valerie alive is more important to me than avenging the dead.”
With a compliant nod, Tony left the room to make the calls.
I had connections. Good connections inside other families and outside of the business. Men who I’d helped in the past.
I worked hard to rebuild the Vignali reputation. To improve it. For ten long years.
Those debts owed to me needed to be paid now, no matter how large or small. Even if the contributions were small, a few men to help mine sweep security footage or additional soldiers for more boots on the ground, I would take it. My allies had to come through.
Enzo squirmed, cleared his hoarse little throat, and shifted from one side of the chair to the other while continuing to stare at me. The boy wanted answers.
As I studied his face, the way he held his mouth, his eyes, I realized his mind worked like mine. He actively plotted his own course of action to get his mother back.
I couldn’t let him do that. I made a mental note to keep him close. His plan would only get him taken away from me, same as his mother. Val would kill me herself if something happened to our son. And rightly so.
The woman had given herself to that animal to protect Enzo, and I refused to let her down by pissing all over her sacrifice.
“Enzo, I gave you my word. We will get her back,” I said.
“Why would you help me or Mama?” he asked.
“What?”
He’d caught me off guard. I needed to give him some clarity.
“You’re my son. She’s the mother of my child. That means everything to me.”
“But you didn't know that until yesterday. Why would you care now after Mama lied to you?”
I couldn’t stop staring at him, wondering how best to answer his questions. There was no easy way to tell him that I had always loved his mother. No easy way to say I’d only gone away because she made me go before hiding my child from me.
How could I explain myself without making Val seem like the bad guy?
I couldn't.
I wouldn’t do anything to affect the way he loved her.
And because deep down, as much as I hated Val for what she’d done, I still understood the fault was all mine.
I had lied to his mother first. I never reached out to her after getting her letter. I never begged her to give me another chance.
What the fuck could I say to him about all that?
Not a damn thing. At least not now.
“Why don't you go back to your room and lie down?” I suggested. “Get some rest until dinner’s ready.”
With perfect timing for once, the doctor returned and got to work on my arm.
But my son didn’t go to his room. He stood in front of me and stared at me.
“No,” he said. “I won't let you go get her without me.”
“Enzo,” I growled.
“No,” he repeated.
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes in warning, but that strong, determined boy from the night before had come back.
He balled his hands into fists.
“I'm serious, Mr. Vignali. I’m going with you when you get her back.”
I winced.
My own son had called me “Mr. Vignali.” We needed to get that ironed out soon. But not without Val.
“Okay, I understand,” I said.
And I did. But it didn’t mean I really planned to take him along and risk his life again.
“You’ve been through a lot today, Enzo. I want you to rest right now, so when it's time to leave, you feel better. Can you do that for me?”
He stared at me, his eyes narrowed, mirroring my own as he searched through my bullshit for the truth, but then he nodded.
Good. Some progress.
He left just as the doctor finished bandaging my arm.
“That was a good move,” the doc said.
“What was?” I asked.
He snipped the last length of new sutures, then packed his supplies in his medical bag.
“Getting the boy to rest. Physically, he's fine. A few bruises and scrapes. Nothing to worry about. But the emotional toll is much worse. It might take a while for him to shake this off. That's assuming you get his mother back.”
“And what if I don't?” I asked.
I had nothing to go on. I didn’t have any idea who the fuck had her, where he had her, or even how to tell the man he’d gotten what he wanted, that I’d called off the wedding.
“You cross that bridge if you come to it. That’s an important part of parenthood, crossing bridges only when you must.”
I nodded, understanding the notion but not liking it. Lying to my son made my stomach turn. But I had no other alternative. I would not fucking tell him that he might lose his mother.
Nor would I admit defeat.
“I hope everything turns out well. I really do,” the doc said, shaking my hand. “And if you need anything at all, you know how to reach me. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my friend at this point. She’s a very good child psychiatrist who could help your son process his emotions. Grief too, if needed.”
I nodded again and thanked him. He wanted to be helpful, I knew, but I couldn't entertain the idea of failure.
After getting back to my desk, I spent a few minutes really studying the photograph of Val.
It was hard as hell, but I forced myself to focus on more than just her image, the pained expression on her face. I needed to examine her environment, look for clues, a lead, any small detail pointing me in the right direction.
She sprawled across a marble floor. Her feet partially covered an image or logo embedded into the stone with colorful mosaic tiles, but I couldn't make it out.
I could’ve had one of the boys try a reverse image search, but that would require uploading this image to the internet, and I couldn’t risk putting it out there in the public domain. The last thing I needed was for the FBI to find it and get involved.
I needed to keep this under law enforcement’s radar. I needed to be entirely free, beyond legal jurisdiction, when I struck back.
Tony knocked on the door, and I waved him in. He took a seat on the other side of my desk and stared at his feet instead of meeting my gaze.
“I made the calls, boss.”
“Tell me.”
“The other families won’t help. They say you don’t have the clout to demand this kind of favor. If it was your wife and a legitimate son, that’d be a different story. Then they’d fight to protect your family.
“But for a mistress and a bastard… no. You’d have pull if you and Benedetta were married, but since that’s off the table…”
“If she were my wife, I wouldn’t need their men.”
“I am aware, sir.”
He continued avoiding eye contact, which meant this was about to get worse.
“What else, Tony?”
“The Commission won’t help either. Not until you’re a member of the committee, and that could take months.”
I jumped to my feet and began pacing around the room.
“Fuck! What does that leave us with?”
“Not many options,” Tony said. “But we’re not dead in the water yet. Bruce and Hastings are working on grabbing the security feeds at the train stations. We’re still watching the city’s feeds around Con Amore. There’s always a chance they picked up something.”
I pushed my hands through my hair, pulling it tightly away from my scalp, then let out my breath. Something, some fucking detail, still eluded me. There had to be something I just didn’t see yet.
“One more thing, boss. I spoke to Don Capaldo about the announcement to cancel the wedding. Figured if we could at least get word out there for this psycho to pick up, we might buy the girl more time.”
I turned on my heel to face him.
“That's a great idea. Why aren't we doing that?”
“Capaldo refuses. He says the wedding is still on, and if you're not at the church tomorrow, he'll kill you himself.”
I scoffed at the idea.
“He needs the strength to pick up a gun first.”
Still, Capaldo had created another problem. Another threat I couldn’t afford to ignore, just not the most pressing threat right now.
I had to be smart about this, think things through.
A few options came to mind, and I hated every one of them.
The other families thought I lacked the standing to garner the type of favors that would help me out of this situation…
Val and Enzo weren’t considered my legitimate family, so their well-being wasn’t protected under the Cosa Nostra code.
If I married Benedetta, I would have the Capaldo men under my control, but not until after the ceremony. Too slow.
The Commission refused to help me with this even after I agreed to sit at their table.
Then again, if I opened fire on the restaurant, killing the whole committee at once and assuming that power, that would get me the respect I needed from the families.
But that forthcoming respect would take time as well.
And the act itself would start a war before that respect came, a war I couldn’t win without the Capaldo men.
Killing the Commission members after marrying Benedetta would give me enough men to stop the war before it started. In a single move, I would have my revenge and control of the entire city all at once.
But that option meant losing Val.
I couldn’t find her and save her before news of my marriage became public knowledge. Not even the slaughter of the entire Commission would stop that information from getting out.
Being completely honest with myself, I had to admit I didn't want either of those things. I wanted to find Val myself. I wanted to be her hero, to save her, to protect my son, and to murder with my own hands the animal who’d taken her from me.
If I had it my way, Val would be home right now. She would be mine, willingly and without hesitation. Enzo would be legitimized and named my heir, protected for the rest of his life, no matter how involved I stayed in the business after that. Though in this ideal world, of course, I would be involved.
But that would cost me dearly. It would strip away everything I’d worked to achieve.
Either way, the necessity of a sacrifice stared me dead in the face. Not for the first time, claiming my revenge and claiming the only woman I’d ever loved warred with each other for priority in my next decision.
Choosing Val meant losing all the progress I’d gained. The networks. The power. The contacts. Everything.
The fucking contacts. Even without a marriage to make it official, Val was the mother of my only son, and that should have been enough for them.
They betrayed me. And I would not forget it.
It occurred to me that the families withholding their support could have had something to do with showing loyalty to Capaldo. Helping me find my mistress would be a slap in his daughter’s face. The families probably assumed Val had been taken by Capaldo himself.
If I chose my revenge, that meant choosing to let Val die. Not only would I throw away such a vital part of my life, one that I hadn’t realized was missing until yesterday, but I would lose my son forever.
Enzo understood what was happening. He knew all this had started because of me.
If I became the reason his mother died, he would never forgive me. No matter where he lived, even if I forced him to remain under my roof. No matter what I gave him. No matter how hard I tried to make up for it in other ways.
He would never forgive me, and I couldn't blame him.
Losing Val also meant losing my son. A son I hadn’t known I wanted until meeting him.
Now I couldn't imagine my life without him in it.
But how the hell could I choose Val when I still had no clue how to find her?
All my deliberations came back to the same thing.
Pursuing my revenge came much easier to me because I knew how to get it. I’d been working toward it for so long, and I understood each necessary next step to avenge my family and finally seize the power owed to me.
I might give up everything to receive nothing.
It should have been a no-brainer.
On paper, it seemed simple. I hadn't seen Val for a decade. I should let her die, put my son in therapy to process his grief, and work hard to build a relationship with him while grooming him as my successor. I would have liked him to love me, but love was an unnecessary addition in this life.
He would learn to respect me in time.
I moved my gaze over to the phone on my desk. I only had to pick it up, and I could make that happen.
So why couldn't I do it?
Why couldn't I pick up the fucking phone and tell Capaldo I would be at that church to marry his daughter?
“Boss?” Tony asked.
“I only see one option with any benefit,” I murmured.
A pathetic fucking attempt to give me the excuse to do the unthinkable.
“We’re not out of time yet, Stef. Let us figure this out. Give us a few more hours.”
“Fuck, Tony. We don't have a single legitimate lead. We’re grasping at straws. Those cameras near Con Amore won't pan out. They didn't the first time.
“And what’s the likelihood of finding anything on the feed at the train station over the next few hours? If I don’t act now, I will lose everything, and she will probably still die.”
While I paced, Tony's focus remained on me. Neither of us saw Enzo sneak back into the room.
When I noticed his small form hovering near my desk from the corner of my eye, I turned to scold him. But instead, I froze.
Not a goddamn muscle in my body would move.
He had the photo of his mother in his hand.
“Don’t look at it, Enzo,” I said.
Too late.
He jerked his gaze from the photo to my face.
“I know where this is,” he said.